Nigeria only has itself to blame for its current economic troubles,
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari said in an Al-Jazeera interview broadcast on
\nSaturday, criticising previous governments for an over-reliance on crude
\nrevenues.<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s biggest oil producer and leading economy has been struggling with
\nthe slump in global crude prices for nearly two years, which has slashed
\nthe majority of government revenues.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s junior oil minister, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, last Thursday said Asked if the world\u2019s biggest supplier Saudi Arabia and policies of the Countries, including Nigeria, \u201chave to live by\u201d market forces, he said, But he added: \u201cOPEC as an organisation has to be mindful of economic \u201cNigeria, we were unable to diversify our economy, hence we are much more Buhari, who took office in May last year, has made reducing Nigeria\u2019s But those efforts have been hamstrung as cash-flow problems caused by the Buhari again said he would not devalue the naira currency or lift strict \u201cNigeria can only afford to live within its means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria only has itself to blame for its current economic troubles, President Muhammadu Buhari said in an Al-Jazeera interview broadcast on Saturday, criticising previous governments for an over-reliance on crude…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nsome oil-producing countries, including Russia, would meet in Moscow on
\nMarch 20<\/span><\/span> to discuss a way out of the slump.<\/p>\n
\nOrganization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had hit smaller
\nproducers, Buhari told Al-Jazeera English OPEC had to \u201cact together to
\nsave the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nruling out a Nigerian withdrawal from the body.<\/p>\n
\nconditions in each member country because that will influence that
\ncountry\u2019s ability to go along with OPEC decisions.<\/p>\n
\ndisadvantaged by the lower oil prices and OPEC may try to help us out but
\nreally, it\u2019s basically our own fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nreliance on crude revenues a key plank of his economic policy alongside
\nending decades of corruption and impunity.<\/p>\n
\nglobal oil shock as well as previous administrations\u2019 failure to save
\ncrude revenue when prices were high.<\/p>\n
\nforeign exchange controls that critics say have strangled investment and
\ngrowth in the import-dependent country.<\/p>\n